Little British Lady. The name leads me to believe this Youtube persona is a girl and a small one at that. I find the name ironic for an opinionated anti-feminist. Hiding behind a hypersexualized female avatar, she tore down Memphis’s finest feminists, ones who consider themselves on “Team Girl.” How little she is, indeed.

Here’s the context: Little British Lady recorded over Patsy Detroit’s “Why Are You a Feminist?” and responded line by line to discredit Detroit, Grrlpunch, and feminism.

It took only about 30 seconds in the 25 minute scathing epic for me to become livid. I found the premise ridiculous: to tear down a young feminist in order to propagate anti-feminist misconceptions. Frankly, it’s a waste of time. Grrlpunch is small Memphis organization, and Detroit is just a teenager. But I’m quarrelsome. I needed to watch more of the video to form an iron-clad argument of why her views were flawed in my opinion. I only made it 7 minutes.

My understanding is that Little British Lady opposes feminism because she believes it tears down men, specifically white men. Certainly, being in the wake of the Stanford rapist case, many college-aged white men are being impugned for rape and violence. Obviously, feminists are against that because, simply and accurately put, rape is bad. I’m sure even Little British Lady would agree that rape is bad. But that’s where the similarity between her views and our views end. She believes that feminists target these white men and attack them, all of them, because they are men. That sounds very similar to what she was doing to Detroit.

I am not going to say white men are free from struggle because everyone suffers. Suffering is a human thing. Though, feminism exists because there is a specific struggle among women. The goal of feminism is to put everyone on the same level, regardless of gender. I would opine feminists even believe in the equality of races, religions, and sexualities. Feminists believe in everyone. They value individuals and recognize the innate similarity between all humans, and it just seems to me that Little British Lady doesn’t see it that way.

What I really think Little British Lady got wrong was getting caught up in the label: feminist. She saw all feminists as radical man-haters, very “Women and Women First.” Feminism has something for everyone, and man-hating defeats the purpose of making men and women equal.

-Abby Baskind

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About the Artist
Samantha is an artist that enjoys the finer things in life, such as pastries, music videos, and her golden-doodle, Matchbox.